New Pease entrance eyed for October

PORTSMOUTH — The new Spaulding Turnpike Exit 3 access in and out of Pease International Tradeport should be ready for use in October.

An assessment of the exit’s timetable was offered as part of a presentation on the entire Spaulding Turnpike widening project by Keith Cota, chief project manager for the N.H. Department of Transportation.

The current Exit 3 is a left-hand ramp from the southbound Spaulding Turnpike that accesses only Woodbury Avenue. The new Exit 3 on both the southbound and northbound sides of the highway will provide access not Woodbury Avenue and Arboretum Drive in Newington as a new way to and from the tradeport.

The exit is part of the so-called “Contract M” contract, which is turn is one of five contracts for the Spaulding widening project that Cota estimated will ultimately cost about $270 million.

The project, once it is completed in 2020, will widen the turnpike to eight lanes with four in each direction between Exit 1 in Portsmouth and the Dover Toll Plaza over new and rehabilitated bridges across Little Bay. The project also includes the renovation and reconfiguration of exits and the rehabilitation of the old Gen. Sullivan Bridge as a pedestrian/bicycle access over the water.

Cota’s presentation to 15 members of the Tenants Association at Pease took place Tuesday morning at Great Bay Community College.

“There’s more to this project than just the construction that’s out there,” said Cota.

Using a slide presentation, he detailed not only the construction that commuters see each day, but some of the ancillary work that’s been done to mitigate some of the environmental effects of the work. He noted the environmental mitigation projects included preserving 224 acres of land at Tuttle Farm in Dover and the protection of two watersheds. There were also improvements to state Park & Ride lots in Portsmouth and Dover and expanded bus service by C&J, East West Express and COAST.

“There’s a lot of transit investment that we supplemented as part of the project,” he said.

The contracts and their estimated cost, according to Cota, are as follows:

Cota said contracts Q and S – the Dover and Gen. Sullivan – represent a “pretty big project, about the same size as the Newington side” (Contract M).

The Dover/Gen. Sullivan work is now a year behind what was originally intended, with completion now scheduled for 2020 or even possibly into 2021.

Cota explained the bond authorization and revenue for these contracts didn’t sync up with the other contracts. Bond authorization comes from the state Legislature, according to Cota, while revenue comes from turnpike tolls approved by the governor and Executive Council.

While there was already a bond authorization from the state Legislature in place, according to Cota, the revenue wasn’t. “We had to wait for the revenue stream to catch up,” he said.

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